Roh Moo-hyun - Bribery Controversies

Bribery Controversies

On 4 December 2008, Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother, Gun-Pyeong, was indicted on charges of illegally taking 30 million won from former Daewoo Engineering & Construction and the prosecutors put him in jail.

On 7 April 2009, Chung Sang-Moon,the former secretary of Roh Moo-hyun was arrested on charges In early 2009, allegations of corruption had begun to surface regarding the former President's family and aides, eventually leading to the indictment of Roh's elder brother Roh Gun-Pyeong on suspicion of influence peddling. It soon became clear that investigation would have to expand to encompass Roh Moo-Hyun's aides, as well as other members of his family. As the investigation closed in on Roh's former secretary, Chung Sang-Moon, Roh made the surprise announcement on his website that "The accusation should be directed at our household, not Chung. Our household made the request, received money and used it." At the same time, Roh claimed that he himself had not known of the money transfer before his retirement. By May 2009, prosecutors had summoned Roh's wife, son, and eventually the former President himself on suspicion of receiving a total of 6 million dollars in bribes from Park Yeon-Cha, a businessman close to the ex-President. Roh was subject to initial written questioning by prosecutors, before direct questioning, prior to which he apologized again to the public and stated that "he was overwhelmed by shame."

Roh's investigation for corruption proved especially disappointing to his supporters because he had campaigned on pledges to "clean up the presidency," and root out corruption, while condemning his opponents as hopelessly corrupt.

In one speech to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Korea's "June Struggle" for democracy, Roh vehemently attacked critics who described him as incompetent, stating, "They even deal out the absurd rhetoric that they would rather have a corrupt administration than an inept one while openly revealing their true colors as forces of corruption and the security-driven dictatorships of the past. What’s more, they label the democratic forces as being inept, plotting to rise to power on the back of the nostalgia for the development-oriented dictatorships of the past."

Roh's characteristically self-righteous stance resulted in harsh condemnation of the ex-President for hypocrisy when the scandal broke, a criticism he himself acknowledged in a message on his website when he stated, "I have lost my moral cause just with the facts I have so far admitted. The only thing left is the legal procedure" Roh further added, "What I have to do now is bow to the nation and apologize. From now on, the name Roh cannot be a symbol of the values you pursue. I'm no longer qualified to speak about democracy and justice.... You should abandon me." Despite these appeals, Roh continued to deny all knowledge of the receipt of money by his family from Park Yeon-Cha, in contradiction to Park's testimony. Roh refused cross-examination with Park.

In contrast to scandals involving previous Presidents, who reportedly used illicit funds to finance political campaigns, Roh's family have used borrowed funds for personal use, such as the payment of living expenses for study in the United States.